The field of technology for producing iPS cells, among others, receives attention in the medical industry in recent years. A typical technology for producing iPS cells is a method in Patent Document 1. This document describes introduction of four genes (Oct3/4, Klf4, Sox2, c-Myc) into a cell to produce an iPS cell. Since this technology was developed, the number of reports on iPS cell research has rapidly increased. For example, Patent Document 2 describes introduction of three genes (Oct3/4, Klf4, Sox2) and one miRNA (hsa-miR-372, for example) into a cell to produce an iPS cell. Non-patent Document 1 describes that efficiency of iPS cell production increased when the four or three genes were introduced into a cell that was to be converted into an iPS cell and in which its p53 gene had been deleted. Non-Patent Document 2 describes introduction of a pre-miRNA cluster (including miR-302a to miR-302d) to produce an iPS cell from a cancer cell.
Meanwhile, investment by pharmaceutical companies has been poured in the field of cancer, among others, in recent years. Cancer adopts complicated mechanisms and is poorly understood with fewer effective therapeutic agents available than for other diseases, and therefore development of novel therapeutic agents in this field is desired. The inventors of the present invention reported use of hTERT mRNA as a cancer biomarker in Non-patent Document 3. They also reported in Non-patent Document 4 that hTERT mRNA expression relates to RGM249 mRNA and an shRNA or an siRNA corresponding to RGM249 mRNA decreases the expression amount of hTERT mRNA.